Newburyport Crab Cake

Perfect local place, a hidden gem! Went at noon and had the option of breakfast or lunch. We ordered from both menus with no problems! I will say the name of the place is deceiving, they smoke their own pastrami and ribs. By far the best we’ve ever had! Service was good and friendly. We will definitely return. Try the pastrami!

Nice spot. Very friendly and helpful. Good beer selection My daughter had a great burger and my wife had fantastic Brussel sprouts. .25 buffalo wings. We will stop back in.

Came for brunch I had the crab cake Benedict my wife had the lobster Benedict both were amazing (clearly fresh farm ingredients) and the mimosas were under $ 6 ! Definitely coming back!

Thank you sir for replying. My first order never arrived though my son had great burger and I said so. My second visit was breakfast and it was abysmal, that was not homemade hollandaise if it was it was prepared incorrectly. You were not there you cannot defend that breakfast no way no how and the server was fine just new. I in no way blamed or embarrassed her, despite the food, I left 20% gratuity, it was not HER fault. The previous weekend my son and his dad had great breakfast apparently prepared by you, it is why we went. Consistency sir can make or break a business, I wish you luck.

Really great place. I was getting work done at the Subaru dealer and came over for a quick lunch. The crispy ribs were delicious. Crisp BBQ pork what is not to love. Then we shared the butter burger and again delicious. I cleared my plate. Something that I rarely do. Service was quick and friendly.
I don’t get the other bad reviews. Felt that the food was very good and the prices were fait. Too bad it is so off the beaten path.

Two warnings to patrons:
My credit card was compromised at this restaurant — the only time it was used all month and one week after eating at Crab Cake Co it was in NYC being used to the tune of over $ 1000. The owner handled my card!!!
Secondly the crab cakes were small and the local cake was the same as the Maryland cake except for car let crumbs! It was not lump crab as told to me by the owner.
This is a place to avoid!!!

This is a review for service at breakfast. The restaurant has a very cute ambiance and maybe they do better at lunch & dinner, but it is clear to me that they should not be serving breakfast.
We went in mid-​morning on a Saturday and were some of the only patrons. We put our order in immediately, but the kitchen was incredibly slow and took about a half hour to serve us our meal. Sometimes a leisurely breakfast is nice, but as we had our young children with us, it was not appreciated. Our party ordered crab cakes, two blueberry pancakes, and an egg sandwich. The crab cakes tasted good, but my husband got sick to his stomach shortly after leaving the restaurant. The egg sandwich was about a 3/​10, and I’m not a tough critic. It was much less tasty than an average egg sandwich at an average diner.
The pancakes, however, were horrifyingly bad. They were served to us straight-​up burnt. The top of one was clearly mostly burnt. I’m pretty surprised that any kitchen would think it okay to serve them to patrons. We sent the charred pancake back. After a lengthy wait we took the second cake to go, only to discover the center was raw.

$ 2 fish tacos and a great bar, What else can I say. Definitely going back soon. Food was amazingly delicious, I would recommend this to place to anyone

We have driven by here so many times so we decided to stop in one afternoon. I wish we didn’t sadly. The first rule of front of the house is you don’t bitch to customers about what is going on with the restaurant.
We were told the cook called out/​the owner wasn’t there and the person cooking the food had never cooked the menu before (this was after we already ordered). The food wasnt great — and the portions we got, we felt it was really overpriced.
we wont be back

Lunch with my teenage son, he had chix waffle sandwich– LOVED IT.
I had the fish tacos– yum!
Food is fresh and delicious– no chain rest. grade food here.
Very tasty, we’ll be back

I had a coupon which they refused to accept for take out. No where on the coupon does it say that its for Dine-​In only. Since I wanted to bring the food for my daughter, I ate a little and asked them to pack the rest. He still charged me full price refusing to accept the coupon saying «I didn’t eat the food». I asked him to void the transaction and keep the food. To that he said, «I ate the food, so he can’t void the transaction».
I fail to understand how for coupon purpose I didn’t eat the food but for billing I did.

Food was good but all four of us left hungry and it was way overpriced because the portions were so small. Staff was nice but service took a long time. Not coming back until the price goes down and portions grow.

Not sure why there are all these negative reviews. If you go by individual experience mine was good. The ambiance is very warm and inviting. Friendly staff. I had the Ahi Tuna, Crispy Ribs and Fish and Chips. My favorite was the crispy ribs. Coming from the Midwest finding good ribs is difficult in the sea coast area. Definitely was the hidden gem here! So give it a try and judge for yourself. Definitely worth going back.

I went here because I had to see if the reviews were true and if this place was really a train wreck. I should have known that the sign that says «Food» was a red flag. What restaurant sign says «Food» ??? I tried the crab cakes and could hardly find any crab. It was all breadcrumbs… expensive breadcrumbs. The vibe is depressing. The experience was forgettable. There were 4 people inside the whole time I was there. Neighboring restaurants were packed the same evening.

I’m flabbergasted by any bad reviews listed here. Huh? The food here is delicious. My husband and I were in the area — coming from cheese tasting at my favorite C’est Cheese up the road. We weren’t even hungry but saw the sign and decided to try it and «split» a crab cake. Well … We just enjoyed a full dinner. We ordered the crab cake combo — 4 each — mini house and mini MD crab cakes w aioli. Seriously —- these were amazing! And I have had my share of crab cakes. Joe Webster, Owner, personally served us. He apparently sold crab cakes from a food truck in downtown Newburyport for 7 years before «Newburyport Crab Cake Co.» Was born. I love stories like this. Clearly this guy is passionate and it shows.
«Improving Life One Crab Cale at a Time»
– I appreciate the motto.
I usually don’t order pasta — but … The baked spinach and chicken manicotti was nothing short of as described to me — orgasmic. It — as well as all menu items — are made fresh daily and all house-​made. Huge portion of creamy deliciousness with leftovers.
Bonus: Widmer Heffeweisen and Jack O Shandy. Excellent choice of beers thank you.
Ambiance enhanced by blues music. Gritty. Love it.
I understand brunch is also offered with some menu items that sound just as delicious as what we enjoyed today.
We will absolutely be back. Thanks so much Joe! And I’ll look forward to a future Derry, NH location. See you soon!

From the moment I walked, I knew I was in for an adventure. I didn’t expect it to be this bad, though. The hostess desk was vacant – just like the entire restaurant (with the exception of the 1 gentleman at the bar taking advantage of the $ 2.50 bottled beers from 3 – 6).
I’m not sure how much experience this «waitress» had, but it could have been her first day and I wouldn’t have been surprised. You would think that water and menus would be among the first things to give your customers. Nope. Those didn’t arrive until we were in the middle of eating our appetizers AND we even called ahead to let them know a large party was coming! As I enjoyed my $ 2.50 Tuckerman’s and greeted the rest of my arriving party, I could see the waitress getting frazzled.
Some drinks were wrong, while others never even made it out. After this continued to happen for the remainder of the night, I couldn’t help but just laugh at the situation. I did enjoy the pot stickers I had and would only change one thing. I would have preferred the sauce be on the side instead of dripped over the stickers. I’m also not sure what the sauce was. If it was soy sauce, it was a sodium free version (if such a thing). I also enjoyed the fries despite the fact that they were missing the bacon bits and aioli sauce. I’ll give the waitress the benefit of the doubt and say there was some miscommunication between her and the person who ordered.
The nightmare got worse when it was time for the bill. From the very beginning, we requested to have separate bills since we mostly all had cards and no cash. She reassured us this would be no problem and was even keeping everyone’s orders separate throughout the night – or so I thought…
She brings us 3 bills and says she got confused so she had to combine them. You can imagine the fun we had trying to split 3 bills between 10 people with about 7 cards.
By this point we were all just thankful this experience was over. It’s no coincidence this place was has terrible reviews and no business. I cannot recommend this place to anyone regardless of how cheap their beers are during not so happy hour. Do yourself a favor and keep driving. Just a matter of time before this restaurant becomes a distant memory.
P. S. I noticed the owner Joe, who was very nice and friendly to my friends and I, replying to other Unilocalers and almost arguing with them. A lot of his responses were very defensive and essentially calling them all liars.
Double P. S. I find it very sad and pathetic that Joe attempts to increase his restaurant’s Unilocal rating by creating fake accounts. It doesn’t take Mulder and Scully to connect the dots. No one goes to a place and tries their burgers, tacos, AND pastrami sandwiches in one sitting. And then he feels the need to go to other local business’ Unilocal pages and try to plug his restaurant? I wish him well in life.

Food: food prices give me high expectation. We were served with soggy french fries (no bacon no aoli), mushy like texture crab cakes with no flavor, pot stickers drenched in oily sauce, and tasteless spinach artichoke dip.
Service: my friend ordered red wine and got white wine at first, the last two times she ordered, corona was served to her. Our waitress seems to be confused with «please split the bill». We mentioned it from the very beginning. There were 10 of us and she split it 3 ways (she was not even busy) with mix and match between all of them. We ordered loaded fries (cheese bacon and aoli) and received cheese only french fries. Our waitress claimed that is what we ordered.
My attempt to go against bad Unilocal reviews for this restaurant failed.
Would i come back again? no
Would i refer my friends to come here? no
Ps: this restaurant has clean bathroom

Best burger I’ve had in a long time. Service was on and Jake from State Farm was a excellent bar tender. I would defiantly come again.

Umph. I love crab cakes and was psyched to have a local place that took advantage of sweet new england crabs. We started with appetizers. Dumplings were too salty. Lettuce wraps had sliced chicken that was pre cooked.
We had the Lobster Pod. Decent price. No tail meat, just knuckles and claws, which I prefer. Overall, the lobster was okay, but the accompanying crab cake was terrble. Besides being all filler, the bottom was burned.
The kids had burgers. They panned them. Fries were delicious.
The waiter was nice, but the service was poor.
Bottom line. The name, concept and location are a winner. The execution is terrible. The prices are so low that I don’t see how they can deliver a quality product. I am happy to pay 25 – 35 bucks for a yummy crab cake.
Tips to the owners
1. Increase the prices and provide crab cakes that have crab in them
2. Increase the prices and put more lobster in the meals
3. Increase the prices and get a real waiter/​waitress
4. Increase the prices and grill your own chicken.

UPDATE 10/​16/​2014: The menu has been revised and the prices have shot up considerably since the original review. I found the meal disappointing considering the price paid. Although the ambiance is quite nice, the food just doesn’t cut it so we won’t be going back.
Then, I saw the owner’s fake reviews for 180 and the Beach Plum which tries to steer customers away from those establishments and to Newburyport Crab Cake Co (See posts from J.L. W., Rob N., and probably several others). That pissed me off. I use Unilocal as a decision making tool and fake reviews are just simply classless and counterproductive.
Original review:
Crab cakes were tasty. Not too crabby. Lots of filler but good tasting greasy filler.. Tacos are meh. Cod was flavorless and likely frozen. But they’re cheap!
1) Open deck. That’s rare in the North Hampton area
2) Incredibly cheap menu (not anymore)
3) Decent on tap beer selection
4) Fast service
5) Extremely convenient parking
These folks used to have a stand at local farmer’s markets. I guess after popular demand they decided to open a restaurant. they initially were going to open in the old Quizno’s location in North Hampton but decided that they’d skip that idea and move to the old (and somewhat jinxed) Smokehouse Grill location. Three restaurants failed in this location in a short time (the latter closing its doors in just a few weeks).
I like the fact that Newburyport Crab Cake Co built an extended deck on the front side of the establishment. It is easy to see from the street.
Parking is very easy. This is a great place for motorcyclists to meet.